Handheld mobile communications device with a detachable printing mechanism

ABSTRACT

A handheld mobile communications device includes a support structure. Radio signal processing circuitry is positioned on the support structure and is configured to receive and transmit radio signals. Audio signal processing circuitry is positioned on the support structure and is operatively connected to the radio signal processing circuitry. Image processing circuitry is positioned on the support structure and is operatively connected to the radio signal processing circuitry. A printing mechanism is detachably mountable on the support structure to be operatively connected to the image processing circuitry to print images generated by the image processing circuitry.

[0001] This is a continuation application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/436,589 filed Nov. 9, 1999

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates to printing systems and moreparticularly to a handheld mobile communications device having adetachable printing mechanism.

[0003] The invention has been developed primarily for use with ultracompact mobile phones such as Personal Handyphone System (PHS) phones orother close network cellular devices. However, it will be appreciated bythose skilled in the art, that the invention is equally applicable toall other types of hand held mobile phones including existing GlobalSystem for Mobile communication (GSM) phones, the proposed new Generalpacket radio service (GPRS) and Wideband Code-Division Multiple Access(WCDMA) phones, satellite phones and the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] In accordance with a first aspect of the invention, there isprovided a handheld, mobile communications device that comprises:

[0005] a support structure;

[0006] radio signal processing circuitry positioned on the supportstructure and configured to receive and transmit radio signals;

[0007] audio signal processing circuitry positioned on the supportstructure and operatively connected to the radio signal processingcircuitry; and

[0008] image processing circuitry positioned on the support structureand operatively connected to the radio signal processing circuitry;wherein

[0009] a printing mechanism is detachably mountable on the supportstructure to be operatively connected to the image processing circuitryto print images generated by the image processing circuitry.

[0010] The printing mechanism may include a pagewidth printhead and anink distribution unit mounted on the printhead to supply ink to theprinthead.

[0011] The printhead may include a printhead chip that spans a printmedia pathway, the printhead chip defining a plurality of ink inlets forthe supply of ink to the printhead chip.

[0012] The ink distribution unit may define a number of discrete inksupply chambers and a plurality of ink pathways interposed between theink supply chambers and said ink inlets, the ink pathways convergingtowards the ink inlets so that each ink inlet is supplied with ink froma respective ink pathway.

[0013] The radio signal processing circuitry may be configured toprocess radio signals of the type transmitted and received by a mobiletelephone.

[0014] The audio signal processing circuitry may be configured toprocess audio signals of the type generated and received by a mobiletelephone.

[0015] The image processing circuitry may be configured to processimages of the type generated by a digital camera device.

[0016] In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention,there is provided a hand held mobile phone device with integral internalprint apparatus, said device comprising:

[0017] a mobile telephone unit for transmitting and receiving signals;

[0018] processing means for processing said received and transmittedsignals into a printable form;

[0019] a printhead and ink distribution unit assembly attached to saidprocessing means for printing out said processed signals onto a printmedia; and

[0020] print media feed means to feed print media received from a supplyexternal of said phone device to said printhead for printing of saidprocessed signal information thereon.

[0021] Preferably, the print media comprises paper or card sheets.

[0022] The printhead can comprise a single unit of the width of theprint media and may be formed via semiconductor fabrication techniques.

[0023] Desirably, the printhead or printhead and ink distribution unitassembly is detachable from the phone device. In the preferred form theprinthead is part of a sub-assembly also including an ink distributionunit and ink supply, hereinafter referred to as a printhead and inksupply module.

[0024] The printhead can comprise a full color printhead attached via anink distribution unit to a series of ink supply reservoirs to supplyseparate colors to each of the colors of the printhead.

[0025] In a preferred form, the printhead comprises an array of inkejection nozzle arrangements wherein liquid can be ejected by means ofcorresponding actuators attached to ejection paddles associated witheach of the nozzle arrangements. Preferably, the actuators are thermalbend actuators.

[0026] The printhead and ink supply module preferably includes an inkdistribution unit connected with a series of attached ink supplyreservoirs, with a first reservoir being substantially larger than theothers which is preferably used to store black ink. The printhead andthe ink distribution unit assembly or printhead and ink supply moduleoptionally form a releasable snap fit with the mobile telephone unit.

[0027] The printhead or printhead and ink distribution unit assemblyalso preferably includes an authentication means that in the preferredembodiment is in the form of an authentication chip. This enables theuse of only approved consumables with the phone device and alsooptionally records use and consumption data and which may be used toallow for only a predetermined amount of usage of the printhead orprinthead and ink supply module.

[0028] The print media can be fed into the printer phone manually.Alternatively, a print media dispensing device can be used thatpreferably includes:

[0029] a print media storage region having a dispensing outlet;

[0030] a printer phone cradle to support said printer phone and align aprint media inlet thereon with the dispensing outlet of the print mediastorage region; and

[0031] a dispensing ejector mechanism operable to eject a predeterminedquantity of print media through the dispensing outlet and into theprinter phone print media inlet for engagement with an associated printmedia feed means provided in said phone.

[0032] Desirably, the print media is in the form of card or papersheets.

[0033] Preferably, the ejector mechanism comprises a slider operable toselect and engage one of the card or paper sheets and drive it throughthe dispensing outlet.

[0034] Desirably, the print media storage means includes a means to biasa supply of print media disposed therein toward said ejector mechanismand into alignment with said dispensing outlet.

[0035] While the preferred telephone unit of the invention is a PHSphone device, the invention is equally applicable to any type of mobilephone utilising any communications system, so long as the transmittedsignals can be processed into a printable form. Examples of othersuitable phone types and/or communication systems include GSM, CDMAsatellite phone systems and third generation Internet connected mobilephone (3G) systems including GPRS & WCDMA.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0036] A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described, byway of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings inwhich:

[0037]FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a first embodiment printerphone in accordance with the invention;

[0038]FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the phone shown in FIG. 1;

[0039]FIG. 3 is a front perspective view as shown in FIG. 1 with thefront outer cover removed;

[0040]FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of the battery shown in theprevious figures;

[0041]FIG. 5 is a layered sectional right hand side view of the printerphone shown in the previous figures;

[0042]FIG. 6 is a front perspective view of the printer phonesub-chassis and printhead/ink supply module;

[0043]FIG. 7 is a front perspective view of the support chassis shown inFIG. 6.

[0044]FIG. 8 is a part sectioned front perspective view of the printheadand ink supply module shown in FIG. 6;

[0045]FIG. 9 is a transverse section through the phone unit andprinthead/ink supply module;

[0046]FIG. 10 is a front layered sectional view of the printer phone ofthe previous figures;

[0047]FIG. 11 is a plan view of the phone of the previous figuresattached to an associated print media-dispensing device;

[0048]FIG. 12 is a plan view of the print media-dispensing device shownin FIG. 1 1;

[0049]FIG. 13 is a left-hand side view of the print media dispensershown in FIGS. 11 and 12;

[0050]FIG. 14 is a sectional right hand side view of the print mediadispenser shown in FIG. 11;

[0051]FIG. 15 is a plan view of the print media dispenser shown in FIG.11 with the upper portion of the casing removed; and

[0052]FIG. 16 is a schematic block diagram showing the electricalinterconnections.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0053] In the preferred embodiment illustrated, there is provided amobile phone having an internal printer which includes a separatelydetachable printhead and ink supply module. The printer phone can beproduced at or close to a standard size phone for any system includingPHS, GSM and GPRS, thereby conferring a higher level of convenienceduring operation.

[0054] Turning initially to FIG. 1, there is illustrated the preferredembodiment 1 in the form of a PHS phone and which in many ways lookslike and includes the features of a conventional mobile phone of thistype including an ear piece 2, microphone 3, aerial 4, loud speaker 5, aseries of push buttons 6 and a preferably color LCD screen 7 for thedisplay of information. Also included is a battery 8 as shown in FIG. 4.

[0055] The phone 1 can optionally be equipped with a camera device 10comprising lenses 11 and associated CCD chip or CMOS sensor 12. The CCDor CMOS sensor enables the device to store images on demand, so that thephone can effectively act as a camera device for the printing out ofimages, or for their capture and forwarding across a mobile phonenetwork. The operation of the relevant part of the internal controlelectronics can be substantially as set out in the applicant's earlierPCT application WO 99/04551 entitled “A replenishable one time usecamera system” the contents of which are incorporated herein byreference. In other embodiments, the camera device may also beconfigured to enable video conferencing by facilitating simultaneousimage processing during phone transmission. A camera function that ismounted for selective movable positioning on the phone device may beuseful for this purpose. For example, it may be rotatable between aforward facing camera orientation and a rearward facing videoconferencing orientation.

[0056] The printer apparatus is shown generally at 15 and comprises aprinthead and ink supply module 16 including a printhead 17, an inksupply/distribution unit 18 and a print media feed apparatus 20. Thefeed apparatus is of a conventional form including a motor 21 withassociated gear train 22 which drive a series of feed rollers 23.

[0057] The packaging of the printer apparatus 15 is best shown in FIGS.5, 6 and 9. In this regard the printer phone 1 is constructed around arigid chassis molding 25. The chassis is adapted to slidably receive andretain the printhead and ink supply module 16 by means of retainingflanges 26 provided on the outer casing of the printhead and ink supplymodule 16 which co-operate with under cut channels 27 provided on thechassis molding.

[0058] The full operation of the printer apparatus 15 is bestillustrated in FIG. 9. In use print media 30, preferably in the form ofbusiness card sized paper or card sheets, is fed in through an entryslot 31 provided in the external phone casing 32. This can be donemanually or via a dispenser as described hereafter. The card 30 is thenpicked up by the powered entry feed rollers 23 and delivered to theprinthead and ink supply module 16. The printhead and ink supply module16 can be substantially the same as that disclosed in AustralianProvisional Patent No. PP6534 filed Oct. 16, 1998 (U.S. Ser. No.09/425,419 filed Oct. 19, 1999), the contents of which are also herebyincorporated by cross-reference. In such a device, the printhead is inthe form of an elongate printhead chip that extends the full length ofthe print media pathway, so as to print the full width of the printmedia in a single pass without the need for any printhead traversingmechanisms.

[0059] In this particular preferred embodiment, the printhead and inkmodule is formed as a sealed unit which is replaced in its totalityafter a predetermined amount of usage. The detailed structure of the inksupply and printhead module is shown more clearly in FIG. 8. The inksupply/distribution unit 18 is of a molded multi-part structureincluding a cover 35, a macro channel molding 36 defining four separateink supply chambers 37-40 having therein optional flow control baffles41. Connected with converging outlets of the macro channel molding 36 isa micro-molding 42 which defines similarly converging ink flow nozzles43 that accurately direct the ink to minute ink supply inlets on therear of the printhead 17. Optionally, an ink filter 44 is providedbetween the two moldings. A capping device 47 is also provided as partof the module for sealing and protecting the nozzle outlets when theprinter head is not in use. It is estimated that the ink supply will onaverage be sufficient for printing approximately 1000 pages at 15%coverage of black or 100 photos of 50% coverage of CMYK. An expandedtechnical description of the printhead and ink supply module can befound in the aforementioned provisional patent specification PP6534 andassociated applications.

[0060] The mobile phone system can be operated under the control of aseries of one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICS)which incorporate the usual mobile phone capabilities in addition tocamera and image processing capabilities. An adaptation of the systemoutlined in PCT Patent Application PCT/AU98/00544 filed by the presentapplicant (also incorporated herein by reference) can be utilised in thedesign of the ASIC. The electrical interconnections for the preferredembodiment are shown schematically as a block diagram in FIG. 16. Othersystem designs well known to those skilled in this field may also beused.

[0061] Referring next to FIGS. 11 to 15 there is illustrated a printmedia dispenser 50 configured for use with the PHS phone of the previousembodiments. The dispenser comprises a lower molding 51 that defines amedia storage and dispensing region 52 and a cradle 53 which supportsthe printer phone 1 and aligns it with the outlet of the dispenser.

[0062] The interactive operation of the print media dispenser with thephone 1 is best illustrated in FIG. 14. As can be seen, the dispenser 50has a storage area 52 in which is disposed a quantity of print media inthe form of business card sized paper or card sheets 54. These cards aresupported on a metal base plate 55 which is sprung by means of opposedspring fingers 56 as shown in FIG. 15. In this manner, the card supplyis constantly biased upwardly toward a media ejector mechanism 58. Theejector mechanism includes an ejector slider 59 which is operable uponmanual sliding against a return spring 60 to pick up the top card andfeed this out of the dispenser outlet 61 and into the media entry slot31 on the phone 1. On release, the slider automatically returns to thehome position to engage the next card ready for further loading.

[0063] Desirably, the printer phone 1 and/or printhead and ink supplymodule 16 includes an authentication mechanism such as that outlined inthe applicant's earlier PCT application no. PCT/AU98/00544 entitled “Acamera with an internal printing system”. This can be used to ensure notonly that an authenticated approved consumable (such as the printheadand ink supply module) is used with the printer phone, but can also beused to store data on the relative usages of the consumable componentssuch as the ink or the printhead itself and can optionally be used toset a predetermined usage for these items.

[0064] As noted above, the phone device of the invention may be any kindof mobile phone that sends and receives signals in a manner which can beprocessed into a printable form. Further, while the preferred formdescribed has a printhead and ink distribution unit which has anintegrally formed and attached ink supply, the ink supply could beseparate and optionally also separately replenishable.

[0065] While the invention has been described with reference to specificexamples, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that theinvention may be embodied in many other forms.

We claim:
 1. A handheld mobile communications device that comprises asupport structure; radio signal processing circuitry positioned on thesupport structure and configured to receive and transmit radio signals;audio signal processing circuitry positioned on the support structureand operatively connected to the radio signal processing circuitry; andimage processing circuitry positioned on the support structure andoperatively connected to the radio signal processing circuitry; whereina printing mechanism is detachably mountable on the support structure tobe operatively connected to the image processing circuitry to printimages generated by the image processing circuitry.
 2. A communicationsdevice as claimed in claim 1, in which the printing mechanism includes apagewidth printhead and an ink distribution unit mounted on theprinthead to supply ink to the printhead.
 3. A communications device asclaimed in claim 2, in which the printhead includes a printhead chipthat spans a print media pathway, the printhead chip defining aplurality of ink inlets for the supply of ink to the printhead chip. 4.A communications device as claimed in claim 3, in which the inkdistribution unit defines a number of discrete ink supply chambers and aplurality of ink pathways interposed between the ink supply chambers andsaid ink inlets, the ink pathways converging towards the ink inlets sothat each ink inlet is supplied with ink from a respective ink pathway.5. A communications device as claimed in claim 1, in which the radiosignal processing circuitry is configured to process radio signals ofthe type transmitted and received by a mobile telephone.
 6. Acommunications device as claimed in claim 1, in which the audio signalprocessing circuitry is configured to process audio signals of the typegenerated and received by a mobile telephone.
 7. A communications deviceas claimed in claim 1, in which the image processing circuitry isconfigured to process images of the type generated by a digital cameradevice.